Marshall Grant, Bass Player In Johnny Cash's The Tennessee Two, Passes Away

Bass player Marshall Grant passed away over the weekend at the age of 83. He and Luther Perkins were the Tennessee Two, the band which backed Johnny Cash. Marshall Grant was an important part of the boom-chicka-boom sound of Johnny Cash that changed the face of country music forever. Before his band was signed by Sun Records, Grant was a mechanic in Memphis. In addition to playing bass, Grant also served as road manager, stage manager, and driver for Johnny Cash. Raised in Bessemer City, North Carolina, Marshall Grant was living in Hernando, Mississippi, with his wife Etta.

After the death of Johnny Cash, Grant managed the Statler Brothers until his retirement in 2004. In Walk the Line (the biographical film about Johnny Cash), Marshall Grant is played by the actor Larry Bagby. Grant's memoir I Was There When It Happened: My Life with Johnny Cash (co-authored by Chris Zar) tells the story behind his career and that of Johnny Cash. Grant revealed many events unknown to the general public about the troubled life of Johnny Cash. He told all about the "Man in Black from the Man in Back."Grant was actually terminated by Cash in 1980, but the two reunited and became close friends again towards the end of Cash's own life.

The other member of the original Tennessee Two, Luther Perkins, passed away in 1968 as the result of a fire in his home.